It's been noted that Barack Obama possesses a certain Teflon quality. Despite some pitfalls that one could reasonably expect to seriously damage a Presidential candidate's run(you all know them, so I won't bother to list them)BHO has prevailed over Clinton and has not seen his standing in GE polls change significantly.
Certainly, Obama's unique political gifts and his campaign's deft hand at damage control have served him well in weathering storms.
Still, this diarist thinks there's something else at work here.
In case you haven't noticed, the Republican media-mirroring the fractured GOP itself-can't seem to agree on how to go about assassinating Obama's character.
Many of the mainstream cons are too timid to go all in for pure race baiting, so they're pushing the "elitist" angle. This meme is the safe play, and it has worked in previous elections, but it's a bit stale and doesn't play as well after eight years of suffering under a president with serious intellectual shortcomings. Plus, Obama has avoided the trap of cultural pandering(his bowling escapade excepted)that Kerry(who was a jock in his younger days and really does love to hunt)fell into.
Countering the elitist narrative is the attempt by lower brow, less inhibited cons(and some HRC boosters)to paint Obama as a Black radical Manchurian candidate. This has become the favored spin on the Wright/Pfleger/Ayers stuff, since those mentally sophisticated enough to understand the more subtle "reflects on his judgement" argument have so far failed to get very worked up over the issue.
Half the VRWC is trying to tell people Obama is effete, while the other half is trying to tell people he's menacing.
Am I wrong, or is Obama benefitting from right wing mixed messages and the cognitive dissonance they create?